


Planning A Raid

by WhiteFoxKitsune (ProwlingThunder)



Series: The Everlasting List of Shenanigans [132]
Category: Invasion America
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-09
Updated: 2014-10-09
Packaged: 2018-02-20 11:26:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2427002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProwlingThunder/pseuds/WhiteFoxKitsune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt!Fill.</p><p>David has to find a better plan to raid the base. Something that wont get them all killed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Planning A Raid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ZpanSven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZpanSven/gifts).



> Prompt: Pride

Doing the dishes is a requirement after mess, one that's set on a rotation so everyone knows when their turn is coming.

Tonight David broke the mold by commandeering dish-duty. He hadn't taken no for an answer, and the sheer pressure of incredulous stares hadn't been enough to make him change his mind. No matter that it had been his system he was breaking; doing dishes was an automatic action, and it let him think in the silence by the creek. It was dark, too, virtual pitch. The campfire was too far away and too hidden by the trees to reach where he was knelt down by the water.

It was the closest he had come to being truly alone in months.

It felt fiercely liberating.

The last time he had felt anywhere near like this, he had been on Maple Island. Of course, the island had been large enough that getting away from his sister and guardian had been easy. As long as Rafe knew the general hunting-ground he'd gone to, David had been left free to roam during the summer months.

In the mad scramble to flee Glenport-- and then the state of Massachusetts in general, and then that portion of America as a whole-- David had not had much time to relax. Jim hadn't known what was happening, at first, and even after he hadn't known much about taking Watch. Rafe had worked him into the summer training, and Jim tried, but... And Amy, David had tried to let rest as much as possible. She had always taken first-watch, and he had always let her have it, so she could rest through the majority of the night.

Once they had met up with the Reservation's collection of scattered, half-native Ooshati and convinced them that there was still a war going on and yes, they planned to fight, things had eased a bit. Watch didn't belong to David every night. So he did dishes for free time to think, instead.

Tonight there were a lot of dishes, but that was fine; David had a lot to think about. There was a huge maneuver coming up, one that couldn't afford to fail, and to say he was nervous about his first big play was an understatement.

Launching an attack on Charles Airforce Base, where the biggest collection of the Dragit's forces gathered, was as terrifying as it was necessary. It was an attack that couldn't afford to fail, and to be successful they would loose people they really couldn't afford to loose. Which was the problem, now. They didn't have enough people for him to be able to honestly say it was worth it.

The plan was sound enough. He had covered everything he knew to cover, but no one could figure out how to get their people back out before the base exploded. He didn't like it. What other choices did he have though?

Underbrush shifted. David sat aside the pan he was working on and picked up some of the stoneworn silverware, spoon edge so sharp he could skin a deer. He worked it carefully, listening-- then relaxed, rinsed it, and set it aside. He knew who it was by the way they stepped, trying too hard to be quiet to be so, unsure in new moccasin shoes.

He tipped an ear Jim's way, clearly listening, and heard Jim's steps hesitate. Then start again, until Jim stood beside him.

“Are you okay?”

Yes, he wanted to say at once, except it would have been a lie and Jim would know it before the word fell. So he didn't. He washed one of the coffeepots instead, frowning, wondering what he should say. He had been trying not to worry Jim with the plans. Jim couldn't have gone anyway, and David wanted him here in camp besides. Here, safe, surrounded by everyone else David could reasonably leave behind.

But trying to think of alternatives on his own didn't seem to be working. No matter how much he tried to convince himself the plan was his best option, something kept nagging at him. He couldn't put his finger on it. Jim probably didn't have a military bone in his body, so maybe...

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He actually did fall into the creek.

“Sorry man.” Jim looked wholly apologetic, and David tried to soften his annoyance as he made his way to the edge again. The rains had been good recently, and in this spot the creek was deep enough they could swim and bathe. It hadn't been Jim's fault he'd gotten drenched, anyway.

“Clothes dry,” He managed, accepting a tanning hand to haul himself out. He'd not dunk Jim in the water, it was childish and he wouldn't-- okay, just once.

The indignant yelp made it so worth it.

“David! I'll get you for that!” He narrowly missed Jim's attempt to shove him under the water and scrambled for the shoreline, only to feel his friend grab the back of his shirt. He forgot about the dishes entirely, and he forgot about the passage of time.

“Oosha.”

David jerked and Jim froze at once. At the bank stood a thin, willowy Tyrusian, with dark hair and blue eyes that cut through Jim like a knife-- disapproving, every ounce of it-- and settled on David, somehow softer but no less sharp. David cleared his throat and tried to smooth his hackles back down. “Ailen. What can I do for you?”

“Suta and the other captains are waiting for you for the... discussion to begin.”

War meeting. More tactical planning. No one was happy with the potential losses any more then he was. But they only had a few weeks before they were out of luck; they had to make their move before then. David stifled a groan at the prospect of leaving the flicker of fun behind. “I will be there when I finish the washing.”

Ailen raised an eyebrow just a bit, eyes flickering with disbelief that David was doing any such a thing. But he didn't say what he was thinking, because if he had of, David might have thrown a rock at his head. “I will finish them.”

Volunteering to finish his volunteer job...? David bristled, only relaxing when Jim nudged him in the shoulder. “Go on. They wont start without you.”

True. Reluctantly David headed for the shale and pulled himself up on shore, pointedly ignoring that Ailen didn't offer a hand. Then he turned around and watched Jim expectantly, who looked back up in surprise. David grinned at him. Ailen opened his mouth in protest-- then closed it again. David could hear it clack closed as he reached down to pull his friend from the water.

They were both quiet on the way to the ship that was being used as a war-room, and he found himself pleased to notice everyone else in attendance already. Natives Alana and Eddie Rainsinger, and the Tyrusian Captain Shalli Ysai-- who had been of the very first; Captain Suta, who had served with Rafe in times now long-gone; young Captain Wayne Jurok, David's own age. Wayne's father had been one of the original ones, too, a deserter from Charles who had eventually ended up here on the Rez. Wayne's mother was a native woman his father had fallen in love with, and his father had served with Cale himself. They had a lot in common, and they respected each other.

Nobody here would say anything about Jim's inclusion. Nobody here would see anything strange by another set of eyes to overlook their plans.

It took them a bit to run Jim up to speed, and when they were done, Jim was staring at them.

“You guys want to run a mission into a base that's pretty much suicide to get in, so you can blow it up while you're still inside it?” David winced. Put that way...

“We don't have many options,” Wayne managed, reaching up to touch the hologram. It zoomed from a map of the base to the entrance of the path they would take, and followed his finger down the halls and hatches until it got to the self-destruct, buried deep below Engineering. “Our sources say this is the only way to get rid of all the factories. There will be too many people for the team to get out.”

Jim flicked him a glance, eyes alight with a question. David tipped his head, encouraging him to speak aloud. “Dragit... it means Dragon, right? What's that in your myths?”

“The Dragit was the guardian of Bennu's heel. When the war that united the people took place and the Oosha took power, Bennu threw His support behind Him and gifted Him with a present-- His own Dragon, to guard Oosha and all He held His own.”

Jim gave an incredulous snort. “Alright. Well, here on earth we've got our own Dragons. Usually they fly, spit fire, and generally make people nervous. But one thing you can count on is that dragons are prideful. That's in every myth. And they like to win. If the Dragit's as pompous as he sounds, he's not going to be able to resist to playing to the planet's myths about dragons.”

Shalli looked interested, and Eddie looked a little alarmed. David wasn't really sure what the others seemed to have noticed about this that he hadn't, but he watched Jim anyway. “What do you suggest?”

“Well... Dragons are predators, right? Give him a prey he thinks is wounded, and helpless, and he wont be able to resist going after it.” A quick glance at Wayne, and then Jim reached up to the hologram, fumbling with it a bit as Wayne let it go. David reached out to take it from him, sending him a questioning look. “Ah. Out? Again-- the surrounding canyons?”

The rocky ridges around the base blinked back at them, an overview. Jim motioned from the base outward in radiating lines. “These are bottlenecks. Get the soldiers in here, catch them in a crossfire between your guys, and fewer soldiers to deal with. The thing about a dragon is, no matter how many times a wasp stings them, they're still going to try to eat it.”

David glanced at the plan Jim was outlining, and then glanced up at his Captains to judge their reactions. There were varying looks of understanding and thoughtfulness, but David hunted for Shalli and Suta's attention.

Shalli fingered her scar. “Maybe... Suta?”

Suta made a humming sound in the back of his throat. “That might work...”

David grinned, holding the sudden flare of pride in his chest. Yes. Yes, yes, yes.

This was why he needed Jim here. Absolutely.


End file.
